Welcome to this week’s Technical Roundup.
In developments this week, the Corporate & Insolvency Bar Association is hosting its inaugural annual conference on Friday, 31 March with a drinks reception and dinner taking place after the conference; the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has sent a letter to the European Parliament and Council raising concerns with proposed changes to the insider list regime in the Markets Abuse Regulation.
Read more on these and other developments that may be of interest to members below.
Audit and Assurance
The FRC has issued guidance for audit firms on eligibility criteria in the context of the firm’s system of quality management and the performance of engagements. ISQM (UK) 1 and ISQM (UK) 2 have been reissued with updated footnotes to reflect this guidance.
Insolvency
The Revenue Commissioners has recently updated Revenue eBrief No. 69/23 on Examinership Caseworking Guidelines. The updates have been made to reflect recent changes to the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) (COVID-19) Act 2020 and the European Union (Preventative Restructuring) Regulations 2022.
From 17 April 2023, new creditor winding up petitions may be issued in Northern Ireland for the first time since restrictions were imposed in March 2020. The following new conditions, which did not exist prior to the pandemic, must now be met – (a) the petition must be in the new standard form; (b) the debt must be based on a Court Judgment; and (c) the statutory demand must be made after 13 March 2023.
The Corporate & Insolvency Bar Association is hosting its inaugural annual conference on Friday, 31 March. There will be a drinks reception and dinner taking place after the conference. The conference schedule and booking details are available here.
Financial Reporting
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has released its March 2023 IFRS for SMEs Accounting Standard Update. The IFRS Interpretations Committee has also released its March 2023 update.
The IASB has published an exposure draft proposing amendments to the classification and measurement requirements in IFRS 9 Financial Instruments. The proposed amendments respond to feedback received from a post-implementation review of the classification and measurement requirements in IFRS 9, which concluded in December 2022. The comment period will remain open until 19 July 2023.
The IASB has added a project to its work plan to explore whether and how companies can provide better information about climate-related risks in their financial statements.
The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has released its March 2023 update and podcast.
The UK Endorsement Board (UKEB) has published a report ‘Accounting for Intangibles: UK Stakeholders’ Views’. It sets out stakeholder views on the accounting for intangibles under international Accounting Standards within the context of the wider economic impact of intangibles in the UK.
Sustainability
Correspondence in September 2022 from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to benchmark administrators in the UK highlighted the risk of poor disclosures for ESG benchmarks. The FCA said that high quality ESG benchmarks are important to support trust in the market for ESG products and the transition to a net zero economy. The FCA has completed a preliminary review on ESG benchmarks which found that the overall quality of ESG-related disclosures made by benchmark administrators was poor and it has sent a further letter to administrators outlining the issues identified. These include not enough detail on the ESG factors considered in benchmark methodologies and not fully implementing ESG disclosure requirements. You can read the follow-on correspondence which details the issues here. The FCA has also indicated that it supports regulation of ESG ratings and is working closely with Government on this.
Anti-Money laundering/Sanctions
The UK FIU writes that it has updated and redesigned it's 'Requesting A Defence Under POCA and TACT' guidance document, available on the National Crime Agency (NCA) website. This document is intended to inform of the approach when reporters, through submitting a SAR, seek a defence (or ‘consent’) from the NCA to a principal money laundering offence or terrorist financing offence.
The UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (“OFSI”) recently updated its guidance on monetary penalties and enforcement (the “Guidance”) to set out its enforcement approach in cases involving ownership and control by designated persons. You can read more here.
Other Areas of Interest
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has sent a letter to the European Parliament and Council raising concerns with proposed changes to the insider list regime in the Markets Abuse Regulation.
The Department for Communities has launched a public consultation on a prospective Scheme of Delegation for decisions of the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. This consultation is accordance with the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, which allows that the Department may make a Scheme of Delegation to permit some of the Commission’s decision-making functions to be delegated to staff, as they are in other jurisdictions.
Enterprise Ireland is running a series of webinars focusing on competitiveness. They are running from now until October and will cover a range of issues critical to competitiveness including supply chain management, raising finance and digital adoption. There are also three in-person workshops focused on attracting and retaining talent. Click here for more details in Enterprise Ireland press release and here for full details of the webinar series and workshops .
The Central Bank (CBI) spoke at a recent event about its 2023 regulatory and supervisory priorities which include continuing to remain vigilant in assessing and managing the financial and operational resilience of firms and enhancing the Bank’s regulatory and supervisory approaches to mitigate risks from the changing financial system .It also referred to continuing vigilance of the financial system, supervising firms’ compliance with anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing obligations, detecting and sanctioning market abuse, and enforcing financial sanctions working closely with An Garda Síochána and other relevant bodies in all these areas.
CBI recently published its Innovation Hub 2022 update. Established in 2018 it writes; the Innovation Hub gives firms operating in the fintech sector a way to engage with CBI outside of existing formal regulator/firm engagement processes. The crypto/ blockchain sector accounted for 33% of enquiries received last year. You can access the 2022 Innovation Update here.
For further technical information and updates please visit the Technical Hub on the Institute website.
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